What is the Future of the LED?

9/11/2012 in category "Technology"1732

What potential do LEDs (light-emitting diodes) have for taking over the market within the decade? That’s the question that market professionals have been examining as of late, and one overwhelming answer has started to surface. The verdict? Incandescents, compact fluorescents, move aside. LED lighting is on the rise.

LED Lighting Now

Not only are LED light bulbs more energy efficient as well as longer lasting than traditional lighting options of compact fluorescents (CFL) and incandescent bulbs, but they are also a free of mercury. The environmental footprint of LEDs is also significantly less than those of its counterparts, something that is only expected to increase in the coming years.

So the question here is clearly not one of the practicality of LED as a lighting solutions. It’s actually more a question of how consumers will respond to the solution that lies before them. And this is where things get sticky. Research has found that yes, consumers do see LED to be almost synonymous with energy efficiency, but that may not be as significant of a factor in terms of lighting solutions as we currently see it to be.

The Evolution of LED Lighting

The reality is that as lighting technologies continue to evolve, the energy efficiency aspect of it all well become a standard and expected feature, as opposed to a feature that makes or breaks the purchase. This is because the energy efficiency of LED lighting compared with other modern solutions such as solid state lighting (SSL) will become more or less interchangeable.

What this means for the future of the lighting market is that usability and versatility will have an increasing impact on the lighting decisions that consumers make, more so than ever before. When energy efficiency is no longer an overriding factor, what will be? More likely than not, it will be the ability of the lighting source to provide practical and unique solutions, solutions that were previously outside the realm of what was possible.

Lasting Implications

The psychological and physiological effects that different lighting options can have on us may very well be what drives the the decisions of designers, marketers, and more. This is what ultimately makes LEDs stand apart--their flexibility in terms of aesthetics as they relate to design elements as well as their ability to effectively set a desired mood.

There is no way to know for sure what the future holds for LED lighting, but one thing is certain, this is an exciting time to be involved in the field of lighting, and it will continue to be for a while to come.